just wish that he had seen the movie as this Hindi avatar is not even close to that classic.

The movie is about a wannabe actor, Arshad Warsi becoming a superstar with the help of a script which was flicked from an upcoming director, Akshay Khanna. Akshay has to face more problems as his long time actress girlfriend, Amrita Rao, runs away from home to start life afresh with Akshay. Will the couple have a happy life? Will Akshay become a director? Will Arshad learn a lesson for his Shortkut ways?

There are some few moments when you smile for the dialogues or the antics of either Arshad or Chunky but the rest of the time you just laugh for one thing, how such experienced writers Anees Baazme and Neeraj Vora, have made such a mockery of the classic original. There are some moments which are impressive but they can be fingered out and one wouldn’t need the help of the second hand to do that. The movie goes on a predictable path and the twist in the climax which made the Malayalam version such a big hit has been changed to sheer stupidity.

Neeraj Vora at least entertained us with Phir Hera Pheri, maybe he is not that comfortable doing drama as he is with comedy. And Neeraj needs to know that there is a term called continuation in movies and usually its better to keep an assistant just to check on that, and blaming this on recession will be surely laughed at. Cinematography was good. Editing was decent and there is no point in blaming Rajeev Gupta for the pathetic flow of events which credits the flawed screenplay. Music was engaging but not upto the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy standards. Some dialogues are very impressive and funny.

Akshay Khanna shows his maturity but there is no big scope to showcase his talents. Arshad Warsi is likeable, but he needs to evolve as a comedian as he seems to repeat his acts- really getting annoying. Amrita Rao is there for filling the glamour quotient which unlike the directors’s statement is totally unneeded for. The item number with producer Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt was totally uncalled for and all we can ask is, why? Anil and Sanjay are not Shahrukh or Amitabh to sell an item. Maybe the scene in which Arshad demands an Item song with Amrita’s character in the movie was not all a figment of the writers imagination. Chunky Pandey was passable. The person who acted as the landlord tried to emulate Paresh Rawal a lot but ended up being just another wannabe.

Overall Shortkut is a poorly executed movie which had the potential but just couldn’t scrape through. New York and Kambakkht Ishq has nothing to worry as their hold at the box office will continue for at least one more week.

Verdict: You will end up searching for a Shorcut out of the theatre.